"Is Adam going to leave all the work of danger," asked Jimmy, "to us?"
"Yes," Bobby cried, "that's what I want to know. Like baiting the traps, you know. It'll be no snap to get the pigs into their cages."
"You can't expect to have all your problems solved for you, Bobby," I said. "You would always have the benefit of my counsel, and giving counsel to you and Jimmy is not without its dangers. Besides," I added, modestly I hope, "I did have something else in mind. In addition to the arduous toil of tilling the soil—"
"Cut that," said Bobby. "As if you didn't always till the soil!"
"In addition to that," I continued with dignity, "I thought of organizing a company to protect some of our most valuable property here. It would be a sort of Home Guard. Submarines, if they escaped the traps and the hawk eyes of the patrol fleet, and the stings of the wasps, might get into the harbor. Then they would surely get aground, possibly on my clam beds, and they would ruin the dispositions of my clams. So I thought of mounting a gun on the point—with Mr. Goodwin's permission—and enrolling all here present in the Clam Beds Protective Company, of which I should be captain."
Old Goodwin applauded the idea at once, but as well as I could judge in the confusion which followed, Jimmy and Bobby and Tom Ellis were not of the same mind.
Finally Tom made himself heard. "What I want to know, Adam," he asked, "is where do we come in? I think I voice a general question."
"I was about to nominate Mr. Goodwin for colonel,—honorary, if he prefers,—and Jimmy for adjutant, and Bobby and Mr. Ogilvie for lieutenants. Those posts would have to be honorary also, unless the navy could be prevailed upon to assign them to that duty. I don't see that there is anything left for you, Tom, but to be the private. It would be a highly honorable office. You would be the only private."
"I say," Tom protested, "I like that! But I have an idea. What about the Susies who sew shirts for soldiers? Aren't you going to give them a chance?"